How do I know if it’s time to leave or keep pushing for change as a Senior?

Senior Software Engineer2 months ago

I’ve been working as a Senior Full Stack Developer at a software agency for 1.5 years, and I’m at a loss for what to do next. There are several issues that aren't being addressed, no matter how many times I raise them.

No Retros:
Despite multiple requests to project managers, leadership, and even trying to schedule them myself, we’ve never had a retrospective. Feedback loops are non-existent, making process improvements impossible. When I suggested one recently, the PM dismissed it with “fix the bugs first,” which was both confusing and frustrating.

Toxic QA Relationship:
The QA team turned out to be just one person, and our collaboration has been poor. I filed a formal complaint nearly 9 months ago with no update since. Our working relationship is broken, which undermines any meaningful QA–dev interaction.

Unqualified Team Lead:
My lead lacks technical depth and rarely escalates issues I raise. It feels like I’ve hit a ceiling in terms of mentorship and growth. There is however another team/team lead who seems a lot more experienced.

Reusing Legacy Code:
A project reused a 6-year-old app despite clear warnings from myself and another lead. I ended up demoing this outdated system and am now being asked to lead it, even though I voiced strong concerns. Leadership keeps ignoring technical feedback.

Sales-to-Dev Chaos:
We kicked off a new project only to discover the scope and requirements were vague and full of holes. This happens often, sales hands over barely defined projects, and I’m left chasing clients and rewriting scope docs.

Role Drift:
Recently my role has shifted from dev work to firefighting: project management, client comms, product ownership. Development now feels like a minority of what I do.

No Real Progress:
Despite frequent escalation and leadership’s “open door” policy, nothing has changed. I haven’t met anyone from the team in person, and even cameras stay off in calls.

I’ve been studying how to grow into more senior roles, but much of it feels inapplicable here due to the broken processes, lack of support and the weak team around me.

Have I just hit a rough patch, or is this not what a senior role should feel like? I’d really appreciate your thoughts, either on what more I can do or whether it’s time to move on.

I'd really appreciate any thoughts or similar experiences any one has had on navigating these kinds of challenges. Thank you!

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Discussion

(3 comments)

1
Senior Software Engineer [OP]
•Mystery Company
2 months ago
Update:
After many months of literally begging, we finally had our first retrospective last week. It went very well and we got a lot of action points I hope to see implemented in the coming weeks. How can I make sure they are implemented?

The director seems to really value my input, since I’m the only one regularly raising these kinds of issues and bringing feedback directly to him. I do see a possible path beyond senior, maybe toward a principal or staff-level role, and I’ve talked with my lead about it before. But I know it won’t be easy

At times, it feels like I'm running my own mini-startup within the company, given all the hats I wear and roles I'm expected to fulfill. This can be frustrating, as my core passion and job role remain development. It sometimes makes me wonder if I'd be better off launching my own venture, where I could potentially be compensated more appropriately for the breadth of work and diverse responsibilities I'm already handling.
- 0
  Alex Chiou
  •Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
  2 months ago
  
  How can I make sure they are implemented?
  
  You have to be diplomatically annoying 🤣
  
  Keep your eye on the ball by regularly checking in and seeing how the tasks are going. If they're on a multiple-week time scale, you should ideally have milestones in mind, and you can use that as a barometer to see if a task has had good progress.
  
  When asking for status updates (especially if it turns out that people are behind), it's critical to have a warm, supportive tone. The failure mode is to come off as a micromanager who is just pushing people. Always offer support, ideally by putting yourself on the line (i.e. offer your own coding firepower if someone is genuinely trying on a task but is behind). Show that you're open to other options to get something done (reduce scope, reprioritize, find other resources).
  
  Here's a good related thread: "How to influence engineers to hold up their timelines?"
0
Alex Chiou
•Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
2 months ago
To be 100% honest, I would leave this team. This seems like too many problems to fix, especially as a senior engineer (if you were Staff or Principal, it's different as you would presumably have more power).

The tricky part is that the job market isn't the best right now. Having any job right now is tremendously valuable. Maybe you can start off by passively looking (just 2-3 hours per week just applying) and seeing what falls into your lap. If you can find good traction in the job market, then you can dive further in. But if getting a single phone screen is like pulling teeth, then doubling down at your current job and trying to fix things is a more lucrative option.

Here's our overall learning path on finding a new job: Land Your Dream Job In Tech